


One Hundred Prompts

by singasong119



Category: Icemark Chronicles
Genre: F/M, Non-Canon Relationship, one canonically dead character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 13:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3979783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singasong119/pseuds/singasong119
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boomerang Fish created a set of one hundred Icemark challenge prompts. Here is one collection, written entirely about the Cresstavius pairing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Hundred Prompts

1\. Introduction  
The first time they “meet” is not the first time they meet. It’s across a ballroom at some diplomatic something-or-other, and it’s a senator who says, “Princess Cressida, may I introduce you to General Bellorum of the Southern Army?” 

He smiles and says, “A pleasure, I’m sure,” as if there has not been a war and bloodshed and death between them. 

It takes all that she is as a princess to smile only a bit too toothily and say, “The same, I’m sure.”

NOTES: So, I imagined that if Octavius and Cressida survived the war, and the Polypontians wanted peace, they would settle their treaty in Polypontus. This takes place in some social function for the Polypontians to welcome the Icemark Alliance. AWKWARD. This is actually one of my favorites.

 

2\. Love  
He never tells her that he loves her, or she him. It is something in his eyes when he looks at her that says what they are both too proud to say.

NOTES: I don’t know, Octavius just doesn’t seem like one to actually say what he’s feeling.

 

3\. Calling  
All her life she has been Crown Princess of the Icemark, molded and shaped as carefully as if she were clay. She knows there are gods, and that they have set out a path for her that cannot be denied.

All his life he has been the Son of Scipio Bellorum, bred and born for the silk-edged dagger of politics and the call of war. He scoffs at the idea of gods, and he believes in no destiny that he cannot carve with his own hands.

It is only fitting that these two, so similar and yet so different, should face each other eventually. 

NOTES: As you’ve said before, Octavius is all scientific and doesn’t believe in gods. Cressida knows for a fact that they exist. Interesting, no?

 

4\. Irregular Orbit  
One night, he tells her about the stars and how they move, and she thinks about what her father told her about mysteries that shouldn’t be discovered.

NOTES: Just remembered that quote from the first book. Figured her father would say that pretty often.

 

5\. Response  
When he tells her, he is sure that she will reply in kind. He would not have taken this step if he thought that she had felt differently. That would be irrational.  
But nonetheless, deep down he feels a sort of dread when she pauses before answering; despite his best efforts, he is human, and thus irrational.

NOTES: Octavius is telling Cressida how he feels. You know him, he wouldn’t say anything unless he was certain of success. But he’s still human. ☺

 

6\. Permanent  
They say that death is permanent; when he sees her in the senate again, pleading her case, as elegant and stately as one can be when one is covered with battle wounds, he knows that his father will never be able to kill the idea of her.

NOTES: I’ve seen a lot of fics where it’s the male main character that “comes back to life”. Just wanted to try reversing that 

 

7\. Flaw  
Her family finds her bossiness to be annoying; he respects her ability to constantly be in command.

NOTES: Throughout the book all of her family’s like, “Oh, Cressida’s so bossy. That’s not cool!” I didn’t really like that. Isn’t the Icemark supposed to accept everyone?

 

8\. Huge Intelligence  
Octavius was sent to the highest schools to work with the best scholars in all of Polypontus. He has been told since birth that he is a genius, a true prodigy.  
So then why the hell does a bumpkin from a frozen wasteland make him feel like a moron?

NOTES: Octavius being Octavius. ☺ Much like the one where he confesses.

 

9\. Everyday Magic  
She is amazed by his formulas that tell him the secrets of the world with fathomless numbers and theorems. To her, they are more incredible than any of her father’s miracles.

NOTES: Our Octavius seems like he’d know something like that. Well physics is CRAAAAZY. And they’re probably still at Newton and haven’t done relativity or string theory yet. I’ve been reading about physics. 

 

10\. Shelter

They take cover behind rubble when some mortar explodes. It’s a lost cause, and they both know it.

“You take right, I take left?” She asks.

“My shoulder is injured. I’ll take left,” he replies. She nods.

“It’s been a pleasure serving with you.”

NOTES: I picture them fighting in a destroyed Romula (is that the name of the capital?). What happens next? You decide.


End file.
